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The best digital marketing stats we’ve seen this week

It includes news about social formats, retail sales, digital advertising, and more. Check out the Internet Statistics Database for lots more juicy stats too.

One in three smart speaker users are unaware that voice recordings are stored in the cloud

Last month, the BBC reported that Amazon, Apple, and Google employ staff to listen to customer voice recordings from smart speakers and voice assistant apps.

Now, a new YouGov survey has revealed that one in three smart speaker owners are unaware that their voice commands are used in this way.

When asked what they thought happened to the voice commands they gave to their smart speaker, 37% either gave an incorrect answer or said that they didn’t know. Seven percent said they think the commands are stored on the smart speaker itself, while a further 12% think the data isn’t recorded in the first place.

Lastly, 57% believe that they could not be identified using their voice recordings, and only 22% believe that the information would be enough to enable someone to track them down.

Digital advertising in Europe grew 13.9% in 2018

The value of digital advertising in Europe increased by 13.9% in 2018 to reach €55.1bn, according to new figures from IAB. This marks the fastest growth since 2011, and has seen the market more than double in size since 2012.

IAB also revealed that, in 2018, a total of 21 markets (out of 28 featured in the study) saw double digit year-on-year growth.

Search remains the largest online advertising category in terms of revenue with a growth of 12.5% and a market value of €25bn. Meanwhile, total mobile ad spend grew by 31.4% in 2018, to €22.8bn, and now accounts for 41% of all digital ad spend across Europe. Out-stream video and mobile also dominated results in 2018, both growing by double-digits in all 28 markets.

57% of marketers cite Instagram Stories as an effective part of strategy

Buffer’s ‘State of Social 2019’ report has revealed that the growing number of brands using Instagram Stories are seeing success from the platform. In its survey of 1,800 marketers, Buffer found that 57% of brands believe that Stories have been “somewhat effective” or “very effective” as a part of their social media strategy.

Meanwhile, despite a significant proportion of brands not yet investing in the format, the appearance of ads in Stories has increased the appeal. 62% of respondents told Buffer that they have yet to invest in stories ads, but 61% said they plan to in 2019.

Finally, Buffer notes that – despite the popularity of messaging apps – brands are still overlooking them. Seventy one percent of respondents say they do not use messaging apps for their marketing, and 50% are not planning on using messaging apps in 2019.

53% of consumers will pay more to buy from a retailer they’re loyal to

Yes Marketing’s latest report has highlighted the benefits of driving loyalty in consumers. In a survey of over 1,000 UK shoppers, it found that over half of respondents are willing to pay more in order to buy from a retailer they’re loyal to.

In terms of what generates loyalty, 41% of respondents ranked product quality/value of products as the top reason they’re loyal to a retailer, while 35% ranked price as the highest.

Meanwhile, elements like free delivery were found to perform well in driving purchases with new customers, but are less influential when it comes to generating long-term loyalty. Interestingly, only 3% of respondents ranked free or delivery as the top driver of loyalty, while 40% of consumers ranked it as the top factor they consider before making a purchase with a new retailer.

US publishers dedicate social dollars to Facebook

Out of those in the study, it found that The New York Times and Wall Street Journal spent the most on paid social, with The New York Times focusing 50% of ads on Facebook and Wall Street Journal running 54% of ads on Twitter.

Elsewhere, BuzzFeed spent nothing on paid social ads, instead organically outpacing legacy counterparts with over nine million engagements across all platforms. The New York Times had 6.5m engagements and Wall Street Journal six million.

Insider, an online news media company, has been focusing on YouTube more than any other digital native media outlet in the study, with 13% of their paid media impressions coming from the video platform.

UK retail sales suffer record decline in May

According to the latest data from the British Retail Consortium, UK high street sales suffered their biggest slump in 24 years this May.

Like-for-like sales decreased by 3% compared to the same period in 2018, when they registered a 2.8% rise year-on-year.

Meanwhile, both total and like-for-like sales of non-food items declined by 2.7% in the three months to May, while non-food retail sales decreased by 1.1% both on a like-for-like and on a total basis. In-store food sales increased by just 0.8% on a like-for-like basis and 1.9% on a total basis, and online non-food sales grew 1.5% in May – this is compared to a 11.5% rise in May 2018.

74% of consumers want fashion brands to reduce packaging

Nosto recently commissioned an online study of 2,000 consumers in the US and UK to understand perspectives around sustainability. It found that 50% of consumers who desire sustainable fashion would be more likely to buy clothes from companies they know are committed to sustainability, while 28% of them would stop buying clothes from a company if they find out it is not committed to the cause.

Additionally, 57% try to keep clothes longer because it’s better for the environment — though survey results revealed a larger gap between men and women in this category (52% vs. 60% respectively).

The report also revealed that consumers have clear ideas on how they want fashion brands to become more sustainable. 75% say they want brands to reduce the amount of packaging they use, while 74% say provide fair pay and good working conditions. 73% say they want them to use renewable and recyclable materials, and 71% want them to make clothes that are designed to last longer.

An embarrassing ad campaign demonstrates that even in today’s mature digital marketing ecoystem, there are still agencies and executives at prominent brands that fundamentally don’t understand the rules of digital marketing.